US Death Toll Passes 20,000, Now World’s Highest

Today marks a grim milestone in the United States. There are now more than 20,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the US.

This makes the United States the nation with the world’s highest death toll, passing Italy’s total with its 1,719 new deaths so far today. With a recent daily death count above 2,000 per day, the pandemic is taking a tough toll on the nation. And while there are signs that the curve may be beginning to flatten, the US has still seen at least 30,000 new cases per day for the past 6 days.

In the absence of a federal order, the battle has largely been left to state and local governments. This leaves many areas of the country seeing more rapid rates of increase than others. In response to a mounting number of cases and deaths, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer yesterday announced one of the more extreme measures to-date, prohibiting travel between residences, or any visits to the homes of family and friends.

The Trump administration has stated that they believe the US may be able to beat their initial projections of 100,000-240,000 deaths, provided that the nation continues to take the proper precautionary measures. Dr. Anthony Fauci Thursday forecasted that 60,000 may be a more realistic projection at this point in time. Even this would mean that the US has only seen 33% of the eventual fatalities likely to strike the nation.